Post Description

Stéphane Grappelli - A Life in the Jazz Century (2003)

DVD info



Director: Paul Balmer

Cast: Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, Quintette du Hot Club de France, Coleridge Goode,
Yehudi Menuhin, Martin Taylor, George Shearing, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Diz Disley,
John Etheridge, Bing Crosby & The Rhythm Boys, Lew Grade, Michael Parkinson, Duke Ellington,
Art Tatum, Joe Kennedy, Svend Asmussen, Ray Nance, Stuff Smith, Nigel Kennedy,
The Paul Whiteman Orchestra

Description: Legendary jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli tells his own story of a
remarkable 77-year career in this glowing, heartfelt documentary. Here is a rare
biographical tribute to the genuine quality of Stéphane Grapelli himself, from his
earliest days as a Paris orphan busking on the streets, who went on to sell out
Carnegie Hall and every major concert hall in the world, and finally to his last days
where he died in Paris just a few blocks from the hospital where he was born. We are
taken on an incredible around-the-world tour with Stéphane as he collaborates for nearly
eight decades with the finest musicians the world has to offer... players from virtually
every field of musical endeavor.

DVD Format: NTSC
DVD9: 7.12 GiB - Exact Copy
Color: Color / Sepia / Black & White
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Language/Subtitle: English
Commentary: By Paul Balmer
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Time: 02:12:21

========================================================================

Bonus dvd:

Bonus Features:

Eleven additional stories about renowned jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli:

Stéphane's Technique (07:12);
My Other Love (05:47);
Evelyne (02:06);
Bing Crosby & the Rhythm Boys (02:57);
Meeting Django (02:36);
Recording Nuages (04:38);
Django Sacks the Bass Players (01:57);
Django's Letter to Stéphane (03:22);
Manoir de mes Rêves (02:13);
European Jazz (02:02);
Forgetful Old Guy (01:20)

Seven rare music archive clips:

Le Jazz Hot (06:20);
Gregor et ses Gregoriens (03:42);
Five Stéphane Grappelli clips (12:50)

The director's telling of his 18-year endeavor to chronicle Grappelli's career (17:59);

A 1997 promo for the film (10:24);

A timeline spanning Stéphane's career;

Stéphane's Shoebox (03:06);

Research Notes; Bibliography; Discography; Key Websites; Stéphane's Montmartre Map;

A virtual Multiphone Jukebox with rare audio tracks   

The above includes all of the existing film footage of Django Reinhardt, including the
six never-before-seen minutes of Quintette du Hot Club de France, (The rarest and most
frequently bootlegged 'music video' in the world: Stéphane with Django, 5 years in
litigation, digitally restored, and available officially for the first time since 1936.)
Django's torched left hand is not a myth. How could he play so divinely with such a
severe impediment!?

There is also Stéphane in a bizarre 1920s music hall setting, and Stéphane with pianist
George Shearing in 1948 (the lost film the British Film Institute didn?t know it had,
unseen for 50 years.)

And don't forget the rare previously unavailable footage of Art Tatum, Joe Venuti,
Eddie Lang, The Paul Whiteman Orchestra, and Bing Crosby (seen here as a struggling
unknown with his first group, 'The Rhythm Boys'.)

DVD Format: NTSC

DVD5: 4.07 GiB - Exact Copy (No Redux)

Color: Color / Sepia / Black & White

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Extras: Isis is also the 'Easter Bunny' & She has hidden an egg for you... can you find it?

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0

Total Video Time: 01:30:31

DVD Studio: Music on Earth